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Monthly Expense

J

JennifersHope

New member
Hi Guys,

As you know I am looking to venture out and buy a home soon. I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share what they spend on average a month for healthcare costs, food shopping, insurance etc...

If you are getting state or government assistance I would be curious about that as well...

For me, I do not qualify for any state or federal assistance. My insurance STINKS to say the least, unless I use their hospital DON"T USE AT HOME IVS or infusion services etc..

So I am trying to grasp in reality what I will be able to afford in the future as far as mortgage, car payments etc....

For me foodshopping is a big expense, I tend to buy what I want without reguard to price.. I don't buy junk food, I buy a ton of healthy food that is easy to prepare which I know is costly, but it is either that or I buy cheap crap food... On average I spend about $500.00 a month on food, I hardly every buy food out, I always bring all my drinks, and food to work with me...

I have cut going out to eat down a lot, I used to get my nails done every two weeks, now I go once a month...

I color my own hair, go to a moderate to cheaper place to get my hair cut... I don't have a car payment...


So if anyone is willing to share their budget with me... or if you know any good books on budgets... please share

Basically I want to know ( maybe you can cut and paste)

1. Mortgage/Rent can you pay it with one paycheck and if so how often do you get paid? does that include homeowners or renters insurance and taxes?

2. Food Budget

3. Cable/internet

4. electricity/gas

5 Car payments/ insurance

6. Monthly medical expense

7. Clothing/personal budget

8 Savings.....

9 Money for fun.

10 Debt that you are paying off.

11. Government assistance


If I am asking to many questions I am sorry..I am really working hard on a budget and I am having a hard time seeing how this all works out.. In the past I have always lived paycheck to paycheck.. paying only what was about to be shut off or sent to collection.. but I am in a different place now....
 
J

JennifersHope

New member
Hi Guys,

As you know I am looking to venture out and buy a home soon. I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share what they spend on average a month for healthcare costs, food shopping, insurance etc...

If you are getting state or government assistance I would be curious about that as well...

For me, I do not qualify for any state or federal assistance. My insurance STINKS to say the least, unless I use their hospital DON"T USE AT HOME IVS or infusion services etc..

So I am trying to grasp in reality what I will be able to afford in the future as far as mortgage, car payments etc....

For me foodshopping is a big expense, I tend to buy what I want without reguard to price.. I don't buy junk food, I buy a ton of healthy food that is easy to prepare which I know is costly, but it is either that or I buy cheap crap food... On average I spend about $500.00 a month on food, I hardly every buy food out, I always bring all my drinks, and food to work with me...

I have cut going out to eat down a lot, I used to get my nails done every two weeks, now I go once a month...

I color my own hair, go to a moderate to cheaper place to get my hair cut... I don't have a car payment...


So if anyone is willing to share their budget with me... or if you know any good books on budgets... please share

Basically I want to know ( maybe you can cut and paste)

1. Mortgage/Rent can you pay it with one paycheck and if so how often do you get paid? does that include homeowners or renters insurance and taxes?

2. Food Budget

3. Cable/internet

4. electricity/gas

5 Car payments/ insurance

6. Monthly medical expense

7. Clothing/personal budget

8 Savings.....

9 Money for fun.

10 Debt that you are paying off.

11. Government assistance


If I am asking to many questions I am sorry..I am really working hard on a budget and I am having a hard time seeing how this all works out.. In the past I have always lived paycheck to paycheck.. paying only what was about to be shut off or sent to collection.. but I am in a different place now....
 
J

JennifersHope

New member
Hi Guys,

As you know I am looking to venture out and buy a home soon. I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share what they spend on average a month for healthcare costs, food shopping, insurance etc...

If you are getting state or government assistance I would be curious about that as well...

For me, I do not qualify for any state or federal assistance. My insurance STINKS to say the least, unless I use their hospital DON"T USE AT HOME IVS or infusion services etc..

So I am trying to grasp in reality what I will be able to afford in the future as far as mortgage, car payments etc....

For me foodshopping is a big expense, I tend to buy what I want without reguard to price.. I don't buy junk food, I buy a ton of healthy food that is easy to prepare which I know is costly, but it is either that or I buy cheap crap food... On average I spend about $500.00 a month on food, I hardly every buy food out, I always bring all my drinks, and food to work with me...

I have cut going out to eat down a lot, I used to get my nails done every two weeks, now I go once a month...

I color my own hair, go to a moderate to cheaper place to get my hair cut... I don't have a car payment...


So if anyone is willing to share their budget with me... or if you know any good books on budgets... please share

Basically I want to know ( maybe you can cut and paste)

1. Mortgage/Rent can you pay it with one paycheck and if so how often do you get paid? does that include homeowners or renters insurance and taxes?

2. Food Budget

3. Cable/internet

4. electricity/gas

5 Car payments/ insurance

6. Monthly medical expense

7. Clothing/personal budget

8 Savings.....

9 Money for fun.

10 Debt that you are paying off.

11. Government assistance


If I am asking to many questions I am sorry..I am really working hard on a budget and I am having a hard time seeing how this all works out.. In the past I have always lived paycheck to paycheck.. paying only what was about to be shut off or sent to collection.. but I am in a different place now....
 
M

mom2lillian

New member
I am just starting workign on budgeting and have downloaded a free trial of microsoft money deluxe from microsofts website. SO far I really like it, perhaps an idea for you? I dont know how much we spend on all this stuff or I woudl share, right now we are good at paying our bills and paying a bit extra on student loans, we save 401 but we dont know where rest of the money goes so we are probably in about same boat--investigating!
 
M

mom2lillian

New member
I am just starting workign on budgeting and have downloaded a free trial of microsoft money deluxe from microsofts website. SO far I really like it, perhaps an idea for you? I dont know how much we spend on all this stuff or I woudl share, right now we are good at paying our bills and paying a bit extra on student loans, we save 401 but we dont know where rest of the money goes so we are probably in about same boat--investigating!
 
M

mom2lillian

New member
I am just starting workign on budgeting and have downloaded a free trial of microsoft money deluxe from microsofts website. SO far I really like it, perhaps an idea for you? I dont know how much we spend on all this stuff or I woudl share, right now we are good at paying our bills and paying a bit extra on student loans, we save 401 but we dont know where rest of the money goes so we are probably in about same boat--investigating!
 
T

thefrogprincess

New member
DOn't forget to take the cost of living in your area into account. If you live in an expensive city you will of course spend more on food, utilities, housing, gas etc.
 
T

thefrogprincess

New member
DOn't forget to take the cost of living in your area into account. If you live in an expensive city you will of course spend more on food, utilities, housing, gas etc.
 
T

thefrogprincess

New member
DOn't forget to take the cost of living in your area into account. If you live in an expensive city you will of course spend more on food, utilities, housing, gas etc.
 
L

lightNlife

New member
The positive side of living where I do is that the air quality is great, and so is my CF team. Also, CA offers CFers a chance to enroll in state aid called the Genetically Handicapped Person's Plan (GHPP). I don't use that yet, but maybe some day I will. Currently I have insurance through my employer. The down side of living in CA is that you have to make $60k a year just to get by! (That's just an expression, we don't make that)




Of course, all those numbers are sort of meaningless unless you know what our total income is, which is a little more info than I think my husband would feel comfortable with me sharing. Also, we are a bit out of the norm because we are a two-income family, plus I earn money on the side from various writing projects. Also, we have no debt other than a mortgage, which enables us to save right off the top of every paycheck. Below is a list of some of the things I do to stretch our budget:

1. Clip coupons--it may sound cheesy, but they really add up

2. Shop at the dollar store--things like toilet paper, cleaning products, kitchen rags, even scotch tape, are a much better price at the dollar store.

3. When we go out to eat, we drink water. That alone helps us shave about $7 off the final bill.

4. Eat out as little as possible. My husband and I used to get teased by our coworkers for bringing a brown bag lunch to work every day. The teasing stopped when we were able to purchase a new car.

5. I cut my husband's hair myself, and I trim my own bangs as needed. When I need a full haircut, I go to the mall on the day that a hair salon is having a special. (For example, MasterCuts offers online coupons)

6. Use the barter system. My husband is a computer nerd, and I'm pretty handy with certain tools, so we occasionally barter our skills as a trade for something we'd like someone else to do. For example, he once traded some repair work in exchange for a computer monitor.

7. Don't have too many credit cards. The credit card we have gives us a 2% rebate when we buy gas, and a %1 rebate on anything else we purchase with the card. However, we use that card only for gas and purchases over $100. That way we are very careful about whether we really want to use the card.

8. Don't be afraid to haggle. I've gotten some incredible deals on things I've wanted to purchase just by asking for additional discounts. For example, when we bought our house, we needed a shower curtain. The one I liked was discontinued, but the store still had the floor model. I already had a 20% off coupon, then I asked if I could purchase the floor model at a reduced price. When all was said and done, I got a $30 shower curtain for about $9

A good book about financial planning is "Missed Fortune 101." I forget the author, but I'm sure if you type it in the search box on Amazon, you can find it.

I'm really fortunate to have a husband who is REALLY great at managing our budget. He built his own spreadsheet for tracking our expenditures, and he has a great system for keeping it up to date. We're not rolling in money by any means (afterall, I am currently on disability), but I don't have to worry about whether we have money in the bank for a gift to bring to a friend's baby shower either.
 
L

lightNlife

New member
The positive side of living where I do is that the air quality is great, and so is my CF team. Also, CA offers CFers a chance to enroll in state aid called the Genetically Handicapped Person's Plan (GHPP). I don't use that yet, but maybe some day I will. Currently I have insurance through my employer. The down side of living in CA is that you have to make $60k a year just to get by! (That's just an expression, we don't make that)




Of course, all those numbers are sort of meaningless unless you know what our total income is, which is a little more info than I think my husband would feel comfortable with me sharing. Also, we are a bit out of the norm because we are a two-income family, plus I earn money on the side from various writing projects. Also, we have no debt other than a mortgage, which enables us to save right off the top of every paycheck. Below is a list of some of the things I do to stretch our budget:

1. Clip coupons--it may sound cheesy, but they really add up

2. Shop at the dollar store--things like toilet paper, cleaning products, kitchen rags, even scotch tape, are a much better price at the dollar store.

3. When we go out to eat, we drink water. That alone helps us shave about $7 off the final bill.

4. Eat out as little as possible. My husband and I used to get teased by our coworkers for bringing a brown bag lunch to work every day. The teasing stopped when we were able to purchase a new car.

5. I cut my husband's hair myself, and I trim my own bangs as needed. When I need a full haircut, I go to the mall on the day that a hair salon is having a special. (For example, MasterCuts offers online coupons)

6. Use the barter system. My husband is a computer nerd, and I'm pretty handy with certain tools, so we occasionally barter our skills as a trade for something we'd like someone else to do. For example, he once traded some repair work in exchange for a computer monitor.

7. Don't have too many credit cards. The credit card we have gives us a 2% rebate when we buy gas, and a %1 rebate on anything else we purchase with the card. However, we use that card only for gas and purchases over $100. That way we are very careful about whether we really want to use the card.

8. Don't be afraid to haggle. I've gotten some incredible deals on things I've wanted to purchase just by asking for additional discounts. For example, when we bought our house, we needed a shower curtain. The one I liked was discontinued, but the store still had the floor model. I already had a 20% off coupon, then I asked if I could purchase the floor model at a reduced price. When all was said and done, I got a $30 shower curtain for about $9

A good book about financial planning is "Missed Fortune 101." I forget the author, but I'm sure if you type it in the search box on Amazon, you can find it.

I'm really fortunate to have a husband who is REALLY great at managing our budget. He built his own spreadsheet for tracking our expenditures, and he has a great system for keeping it up to date. We're not rolling in money by any means (afterall, I am currently on disability), but I don't have to worry about whether we have money in the bank for a gift to bring to a friend's baby shower either.
 
L

lightNlife

New member
The positive side of living where I do is that the air quality is great, and so is my CF team. Also, CA offers CFers a chance to enroll in state aid called the Genetically Handicapped Person's Plan (GHPP). I don't use that yet, but maybe some day I will. Currently I have insurance through my employer. The down side of living in CA is that you have to make $60k a year just to get by! (That's just an expression, we don't make that)




Of course, all those numbers are sort of meaningless unless you know what our total income is, which is a little more info than I think my husband would feel comfortable with me sharing. Also, we are a bit out of the norm because we are a two-income family, plus I earn money on the side from various writing projects. Also, we have no debt other than a mortgage, which enables us to save right off the top of every paycheck. Below is a list of some of the things I do to stretch our budget:

1. Clip coupons--it may sound cheesy, but they really add up

2. Shop at the dollar store--things like toilet paper, cleaning products, kitchen rags, even scotch tape, are a much better price at the dollar store.

3. When we go out to eat, we drink water. That alone helps us shave about $7 off the final bill.

4. Eat out as little as possible. My husband and I used to get teased by our coworkers for bringing a brown bag lunch to work every day. The teasing stopped when we were able to purchase a new car.

5. I cut my husband's hair myself, and I trim my own bangs as needed. When I need a full haircut, I go to the mall on the day that a hair salon is having a special. (For example, MasterCuts offers online coupons)

6. Use the barter system. My husband is a computer nerd, and I'm pretty handy with certain tools, so we occasionally barter our skills as a trade for something we'd like someone else to do. For example, he once traded some repair work in exchange for a computer monitor.

7. Don't have too many credit cards. The credit card we have gives us a 2% rebate when we buy gas, and a %1 rebate on anything else we purchase with the card. However, we use that card only for gas and purchases over $100. That way we are very careful about whether we really want to use the card.

8. Don't be afraid to haggle. I've gotten some incredible deals on things I've wanted to purchase just by asking for additional discounts. For example, when we bought our house, we needed a shower curtain. The one I liked was discontinued, but the store still had the floor model. I already had a 20% off coupon, then I asked if I could purchase the floor model at a reduced price. When all was said and done, I got a $30 shower curtain for about $9

A good book about financial planning is "Missed Fortune 101." I forget the author, but I'm sure if you type it in the search box on Amazon, you can find it.

I'm really fortunate to have a husband who is REALLY great at managing our budget. He built his own spreadsheet for tracking our expenditures, and he has a great system for keeping it up to date. We're not rolling in money by any means (afterall, I am currently on disability), but I don't have to worry about whether we have money in the bank for a gift to bring to a friend's baby shower either.
 
J

julie

New member
Ok here's my nitty gritty auntie:

Hi Guys,





1. Mortgage/Rent : $1952 includes homeowners ins. and property taxes. We pay it in one paycheck, but of course, use a combination of new paycheck and combination of what's in the checking. Our yearly for homeowners is $677 and our property taxes are $2500 a year

2. Food Budget: $900

3. Cable/internet and Phone: $110

4. electricity/gas: $170
Water/Sewer: $65
Trash: $25

5 Car payments/ insurance $1125 (2 cars and ins. on both)

6. Monthly medical expense : $20 (inculded "food" above)

7. Clothing/personal budget: $15

8 Savings..... $100

9 Money for fun. $10

10 Debt that you are paying off. $450 student loans

11. Government assistance : $65 food stamps

So our total Expenditures are $4942 a month
Total govt. Assistance is $ 65a month
Total income from me is: $3151
Total income from Mark is:n $1136 (includes $105 SSDI payment to each kid)
OVERALL income is $4287

Needless to say we are WAY over our income, but we've gotten rid of eveyrthing we possibly can. The only options in the next 6 months is for me to advance, or for us to refinance our house or sell it AND consolidate our private student loans. We are actually trying to get the federally funded ones dishcarged since Mark isn't working and we don't plan to have him work since daycare is MORE than he cam possibly make right now..
 
J

julie

New member
Ok here's my nitty gritty auntie:

Hi Guys,





1. Mortgage/Rent : $1952 includes homeowners ins. and property taxes. We pay it in one paycheck, but of course, use a combination of new paycheck and combination of what's in the checking. Our yearly for homeowners is $677 and our property taxes are $2500 a year

2. Food Budget: $900

3. Cable/internet and Phone: $110

4. electricity/gas: $170
Water/Sewer: $65
Trash: $25

5 Car payments/ insurance $1125 (2 cars and ins. on both)

6. Monthly medical expense : $20 (inculded "food" above)

7. Clothing/personal budget: $15

8 Savings..... $100

9 Money for fun. $10

10 Debt that you are paying off. $450 student loans

11. Government assistance : $65 food stamps

So our total Expenditures are $4942 a month
Total govt. Assistance is $ 65a month
Total income from me is: $3151
Total income from Mark is:n $1136 (includes $105 SSDI payment to each kid)
OVERALL income is $4287

Needless to say we are WAY over our income, but we've gotten rid of eveyrthing we possibly can. The only options in the next 6 months is for me to advance, or for us to refinance our house or sell it AND consolidate our private student loans. We are actually trying to get the federally funded ones dishcarged since Mark isn't working and we don't plan to have him work since daycare is MORE than he cam possibly make right now..
 
J

julie

New member
Ok here's my nitty gritty auntie:

Hi Guys,





1. Mortgage/Rent : $1952 includes homeowners ins. and property taxes. We pay it in one paycheck, but of course, use a combination of new paycheck and combination of what's in the checking. Our yearly for homeowners is $677 and our property taxes are $2500 a year

2. Food Budget: $900

3. Cable/internet and Phone: $110

4. electricity/gas: $170
Water/Sewer: $65
Trash: $25

5 Car payments/ insurance $1125 (2 cars and ins. on both)

6. Monthly medical expense : $20 (inculded "food" above)

7. Clothing/personal budget: $15

8 Savings..... $100

9 Money for fun. $10

10 Debt that you are paying off. $450 student loans

11. Government assistance : $65 food stamps

So our total Expenditures are $4942 a month
Total govt. Assistance is $ 65a month
Total income from me is: $3151
Total income from Mark is:n $1136 (includes $105 SSDI payment to each kid)
OVERALL income is $4287

Needless to say we are WAY over our income, but we've gotten rid of eveyrthing we possibly can. The only options in the next 6 months is for me to advance, or for us to refinance our house or sell it AND consolidate our private student loans. We are actually trying to get the federally funded ones dishcarged since Mark isn't working and we don't plan to have him work since daycare is MORE than he cam possibly make right now..
 
F

folione

New member
You are doing the right thing by thinking about your bills before going house hunting. I'm not sure however, how helpful it is to collect other people's bills from random other places when trying to figure out your own budget except perhaps to gain perspective on what others are allowing themselves to spend on the "nice to do" stuff.

If you want to get an idea of what you can afford to do, you might want to start by organizing your expense categories into 3 groups:
(a) fixed costs you currently have and which are unavoidable - like student loans, health insurance, medicine, anything you truly are required to pay for
(b) current costs but whose amount you have some control over - food, clothing, savings, cable TV are in this group. this can be a contentious group since we all have alot of things we pay for that we don't want to give up but that plenty of people do without.
(c) potential costs - even if you don't have a car payment now, might you have one later on after you've bought a house? other things you depend on that might break or need replacing, such as a computer all need to be considered before you decide if you can afford to take on a mortgage.

You'll notice that rent/utilities/mortgage are not on the list because what you are aiming for in this budget exercise is to get an idea of how much money you have available for a house & the insurance & maintenance & utilities that go with it. Maintenance and utilities are highly dependent on the property and locality so you'll do best to ask neighbors for that sort of info. You have to know how much you can afford and how tight a budget you are comfortable with before you ask a bank what they'll lend you because banks are more than happy to loan you more than you can afford and then take your house later.

Alot of what goes into budgeting is soul-searching stuff about what is truly essential versus what is nice to do so you can allocate your dollars to the things that give you the best life. I bought a house half the price the bank and real estate agent said I could afford because I wanted my family to be able to survive on one income if necessary. It means the house is not as big or nice as some of our friends, but several years after the house purchase, our son was born with CF and my spouse was able to quit working and stay at home without forcing us to give up eveything.

Good luck.
 
F

folione

New member
You are doing the right thing by thinking about your bills before going house hunting. I'm not sure however, how helpful it is to collect other people's bills from random other places when trying to figure out your own budget except perhaps to gain perspective on what others are allowing themselves to spend on the "nice to do" stuff.

If you want to get an idea of what you can afford to do, you might want to start by organizing your expense categories into 3 groups:
(a) fixed costs you currently have and which are unavoidable - like student loans, health insurance, medicine, anything you truly are required to pay for
(b) current costs but whose amount you have some control over - food, clothing, savings, cable TV are in this group. this can be a contentious group since we all have alot of things we pay for that we don't want to give up but that plenty of people do without.
(c) potential costs - even if you don't have a car payment now, might you have one later on after you've bought a house? other things you depend on that might break or need replacing, such as a computer all need to be considered before you decide if you can afford to take on a mortgage.

You'll notice that rent/utilities/mortgage are not on the list because what you are aiming for in this budget exercise is to get an idea of how much money you have available for a house & the insurance & maintenance & utilities that go with it. Maintenance and utilities are highly dependent on the property and locality so you'll do best to ask neighbors for that sort of info. You have to know how much you can afford and how tight a budget you are comfortable with before you ask a bank what they'll lend you because banks are more than happy to loan you more than you can afford and then take your house later.

Alot of what goes into budgeting is soul-searching stuff about what is truly essential versus what is nice to do so you can allocate your dollars to the things that give you the best life. I bought a house half the price the bank and real estate agent said I could afford because I wanted my family to be able to survive on one income if necessary. It means the house is not as big or nice as some of our friends, but several years after the house purchase, our son was born with CF and my spouse was able to quit working and stay at home without forcing us to give up eveything.

Good luck.
 
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